Nippon Steel & Sumitomo
Metal Corp., as the new company is known, will streamline production lines at
domestic steelworks, moving forward a plan to save 150 billion yen ($1.9
billion) annually three years after integration, said Shoji Muneoka, who was
appointed chief executive officer of the Tokyo-based company today. Closing
blast furnaces will also be considered in the longer term, he said.
“We will try to bring our
cost levels lower to enable us to compete with emerging steel mills,†Muneoka,
president of Nippon Steel before the merger, said Sept. 26 in an interview with
a group of reporters. “Our cost competitiveness is relatively weak,†he said,
citing more expensive Japanese products because of the yen’s strength as one
reason.
Source: Bloomberg
Leave a Reply